Marlboro County ScArchives History - Books .....Chapter V Other Brownsville Families 1897
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Book Title: A History Of Marlboro County

CHAPTER V.
OTHER BROWNSVILLE FAMILIES.

  Since reference has frequently been made to this ancient community it is fit
that we linger among some of the older names that impressed themselves upon its
society. With the main body of Welshmen, or soon after, came John Brown, born
near Burlington, N. J., and brought up near Frankfort in the neighborhood of
Philadelphia. He came South and united with the colony about the Neck. He was
ordained to the gospel ministry May 7, 1750, and succeeded Philip James as
pastor of the church at Welsh Neck; but, for some reason did not continue long
in that relation, but devoted his ministry to other regions, and was
instrumental in organizing a church at Cashway Ferry, with a membership on both
sides of the river. Either he or his son, Samuel, had settled on Muddy Creek and
built a mill some years before the Revolutionary War began, and near the mill,
on both sides of the Creek, a number of prosperous families were settled. Ardent
Whigs, it soon became a stronghold of liberty, and the prominence of the Brown
family about this time gave name to the Brownsville community. It is not known
how many sons the old pastor had, or when he died: It is, however, a
well-established tradition that the prominent family of this name on the west
side of Pee Dee in the Mars Bluff and Florence region are descended from this
old Welsh preacher; and that John and Jeremiah, grandsons of his, moved to
Alabama and became prominent in that State. William, another grandson of the old
pastor, and a son of Samuel, lived and died near the mill and in sight of the
old church, which, after the war, was moved out to the present location. Mr.
Brown had four sons and a daughter. The daughter marrried [sic] a Mr. Law, of
Darlington. The four sons were young men of excellent character. Samuel died
unmarried. James lived but a short time after his marriage and left no son.
William Brown, one of my early schoolmasters, went West. Charles Brown married
Miss Allison, and in the person of Mrs. T. L. Crosland and her interesting young
family, alone flows the blood of the men whose characters and influence gave
name to an extensive township of lower Marlboro.

  William Magee, or as the name was sometimes spelled, McGee, was an early
settler in this portion of country. A daughter of his, Martha, became the wife
of Rev. Evan Pugh and a daughter by this marriage, Elizabeth by name, was the
excellent wife of Mr. Hugh Lide, of Darlington, from whom a splendid family
descended. Another daughter of Mr. Magee was the mother of the late Capt.
Hodges, of Marlboro. James, a son of Mr. Magee, lived at what has since
been.known as the Bruce place, about a mile below the site of the old
Brownsville church, and there reared a large family. A son, Hartwell, moved into
the upper part of the State. Another, Zacheus, went West. The youngest daughter
was the first wife of the writer's father, William Thomas. And among the
relatives of the first family of children, who sometimes visited us, Rev.
William Kennedy, a noted preacher of the S. C. Conference, is remembered. A son
of his, the polished F. M. Kennedy, was not less distinguished at a later date.
Mr. Magee was noted for his correct Christian character, was a conscientious
Whig, and a member of Marion's brigade. He came near losing his life on the day
after Col. Kolb was killed, being on the road from his home to Long Bluff on a
military mission to the Colonel when Lewis M. Ayer, whose sister Mr. Magee
married, at the risk of his own life, and with a narrow escape, intercepted and
saved. He lived to see the opening years of the present century, and died
suddenly, sitting in his chair with the open Bible upon his knee.

  The magistrate of the community and the State Senator, seventy years ago, was
Robeson Carloss. He came from Virginia about 1790 and settled on the Pee Dee and
married the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Baron Poelnitz, who was at
the time, the young widow of Col. Evans, and had been the wife, first of Charles
Stuart. The Carloss name is extinct in Marlboro, but through the late Mrs. Light
Townsend, the blood flows in the veins of several of our excellent families,
viz.: J. R. Townsend, John Irby, T. E. Dudley and F. W. Kinney. So, too, the
name of Poelnitz is unknown among us only as it is represented in the above good
people. It is fit that another name should be mentioned in connection with
Carloss, not because there was any kinship, but because 'Squire Carloss
exercised a large influence over Mason Lee, the greatest oddity of his day, and
was the executor of his will, if not the writer of it. Lee was a bachelor of
considerable property, owning a large plantation on the river just below Cashway
Ferry. His will directed that the principal part of his property be given to the
States of Tennessee and South Carolina. That if the Wiggins, his natural heirs
at law, should contest the will, his executors should employ the best legal
talent in the State to defend it, and never allow the Wiggins to have any part
of it, "so long as wood grew or water ran." The will was contested upon the
ground of mental imbecility, and such "legal lights" as Chancellor Harper, Wm.
C. Preston, Judge Evans, Col. Blanding and Col. J. R. Irvin exercised their
great powers on the one side or the other in the trial, a record of which is "in
the books." The case terminated at last in the establishment of the will. The
grave of Lee is another spot at the "old Brownsville graveyard," where memory
lingers. It was covered over with brick made in the neighborhood about 1820, and
fifty" years ago a tree, nearly a foot in diameter, which had been killed by
lightning, fell diagonally across the grave, displacing a few but not breaking
any bricks, and to-day those old brick lie in good shape, firm and strong above
the dust of Mason Lee. Such were his singularities, and so much was said of him
in my boyhood days that it seems to me as if I used to see him ride past the
door on his way to Carloss' on a mule whose "ears had been shaved off at the
skull," seated upon a saddle "hewed out of a hollow gum," his feet in "grapevine
stirrups," a blanket "tied over his shoulders," with a "coon skin cap upon his
head," and yet Lee was buried two or three years before I was born. The earless
mules, once his, did survive their old master for years, and their appearance
upon the road was real.

  Let us linger yet longer among the old families of this ancient community.
Emanuel Coxe came at an early day, long before the war with the mother country
and when the conflict came, himself and several sons enrolled themselves on the
side of liberty. Bishop Gregg mentions James, John, Josiah, Samuel and William.
The tradition as received from our fellow citizen, Mr. James E. Coxe, names all
these except Josiah, but mentions three others as sons of Emanuel and as having
been soldiers of the Revolution, viz.: Ezekiel, Jesse and Benjamin. It may be
that the name Josiah, as given by Gregg, is a mistake, and ought to be Jesse, or
one of the others. It is inferred that whoever was meant by Josiah, means a son
of this old Brownsville patriarch, because he is enrolled as a member of Capt.
Moses Pearson's company, who was himself a resident of this community. However
that may be, it is beyond question that few families in the Pee Dee region,
numbering no more men has furnished a larger proportion to the cause of
independence. Samuel Coxe, the son of Emanuel, and the grandfather of our
friend, Jas. E., was quite noted for his valor and services. Crossing over
Brown's mill-dam one night a Tory tried to shoot him, but his gun missing fire,
Coxe arrested and carried him a prisoner to the American camp. Mr. Coxe lived to
a great age, until most of his comrades were gone. His neighbors on the fourth
of July sometime in the forties, honored him with the first place at a barbecue.
This was his last dinner, for in the afternoon he mounted his horse, and
crossing over the same mill-dam, where his Tory neighbor had sought his life, he
had nearly reached his home a mile or so beyond, when his horse took fright and
the old patriot fell off, and in a few days was no more. Two of his sons, Capt.
Moses E. and Ezra, were soldiers of the war 1812-14. The former never married,
but was an excellent citizen, who lived to see yet another war of greater
dimension, and died a few years after peace was made. Ezra married Miss Ann B.
Bass, of Marion, and was the father of James E., Dr. Robt. A., and Edwin M.,
noble boy who fought his way through many a conflict in the late war till he was
made a prisoner, and died at Newport News only the day before he was to have
been released from his captivity.

  John Coxe, another son of Emanuel, married a Miss Mixon and was the father of
eight children. A daughter, Fanny, married John Hood and became the mother of a
large family of that name yet represented in the old neighborhood. A son, Eli,
first married a Miss Stroud and raised a large family. Charles, Daniel and Hugh
all growing old, yet survive. His second wife, Miss Ann Haskew, yet lives, but
had no children. Eli Coxe also rendered faithful service in the war of 1812, in
the company of Capt. Tristram Bethea, and if he saw no bloodshed he retained a
vivid and intelligent recollection of events connected with his soldier life.
Honest, truthful and correct, he went to the grave respected and lamented by his
neighbors. A brother of his lived just across the creek and raised a large
family also, and left a blameless reputation behind him when he died.

  William Coxe, another son of Emanuel, was perhaps more distinguished for his
revolutionary record than either of his brothers because his services were more
continuous. He was one of those patriotic "sons of liberty" who could not be
content at his fireside so long as the enemy trod the shores of the New World.
If not needed in one place, he would get a transfer to a more active sphere. And
yet, when the war was over no man more loved the sweets of peace. No more
inoffensive man has lived upon the waters of Muddy Creek than he. He was twice
married and was the father of twenty children. Two sons and nine grandsons of
his had places in companies raised in Marlboro for Confederate service, and no
one knows how many more from among those who had made their homes in other
States of the South. A son-in-law, Jeremiah Coxe, a grandson of the venerable
Samuel, went into the Seminole War of 1835 and died in the service away from his
home, in the savannas of Florida. The late Michael Coxe, a fine workman in iron
especially, and who made some excellent improvements in the plow, and was well
and favorably known in Masonic circles for a long time, was a son of this
venerable patriarch and soldier of 1776. The Mr. James Coxe who married Miss
Hubbard and raised a family in the Brightsville region, was a grandson of old
Mr. Samuel Coxe. His father's name was Aaron, who married a Miss Spears, aunt of
Lewis and Harris Spears, of Hebron. There were other children who went West.

  The Townsend family, which has been prominent in Marlboro for many years may
also be placed among the original settlers of this portion of the country. The
first to come, so far as our information goes, was Light, who is put down as an
active soldier of the Revolution. He is said to have been the father of two
children, John and Rhoda, both of whom the writer distinctly recollects as among
the old people, in the days, of his youth. Light Townsend was the only son of
John who remained long in Marlboro. He was a man of indomitable energy, and
large native intellect. He gathered a large fortune by his industry and skill,
and left his young family in comfortable circumstances. Another son of old John
was long and favorably known as a member of the South Carolina Conference and
left a family in the upper part of the State. The late Mrs. Kinney, mother of
Capt. Frank Kinney and his excellent sisters, was a daughter; and the second
wife of Jabish N. Townsend was another. Besides these there were other children
born to "Uncle John and Aunt Kissy," as the venerable couple were familiarly
called, who moved West. The larger portion of this numerous connection, however,
are descended from Rhoda, through the three sons, Benjamin, Jabish and Samuel.
The former was the ancestor of the young men of the name now living a few miles
above Bennettsville. The brilliant Col. Knox Livingston, of Bennettsville, is a
grandson of Samuel Townsend, who lived for a long time in the very heart of the
Brownsville community, and when an old man removed to Florida with a large
family of sons and daughters. Jabish Townsend, the other son of Rhoda, married
Bettie Spears and a numerous family came from this union. Meekin, the father of
Judge C. P. Townsend, and others, was a man of keen intellect, popular manners,
and great energy. He served his people quite acceptably as sheriff and died in
the strength and vigor of manhood. Maj. B D. Townsend, so long and favorably
known in Bennettsville as a merchant and patron of temperance, and afterwards as
a citizen of Society Hill and a successful railroad president, was also a son of
Jabish T. Townsend. So, too, was Samuel J., who successfully practiced law in
Bennettsville and was elected to the Legislature. Of quick mind and ready
speech, he seemed capable of large attainments, but was cut off in the midst of
his career by the relentless reaper. Jabish N., father of John C. and others,
was also a son of this old man; another son went West. Besides these the
Galloways and some of the Pearsons are descended from the same source. It is
indeed amazing how many of our people, and how many others, West and South, may
trace their lineage back to Hilson's Bay and to the first Light, who left but
two children to bear his name, to the generations coming after him.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

A HISTORY OF MARLBORO COUNTY,
WITH
TRADITIONS AND SKETCHES OF NUMEROUS FAMILIES.

REV. J. A. W. THOMAS, AUTHOR.

A wonderful stream is the river Time
  As it runs through the realms of tears 
With a faultless rhythm and a musical rhyme,
And a broader sweep and a surge sublime
  As it blends with the ocean of years.
                        —TENNYSON.

ATLANTA, GA.:
THE FOOTE & DAVIES COMPANY,
Printers and Binders.
1897.


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